Brain Fart #9 by Monkey!

Today I read an article on Psychology Today, ‘Does Talking To Attractive Women Make Men Dumber?’ and obvious sexist implications aside, the writing in general angered me.

The claim is that men become temporarily less intelligent when talking to attractive women in person judged by cognitive performance tasks pre and post interactions with same-sex and opposite-sex partners.

Why might this happen?

Obviously because men are ‘preoccupied with their sexual interest in a woman’ because doy-duh men are dumb! and despite the original claim of temporary cognitive decline the writer offers another sexist undertone:

‘… There is no evidence to suggest that these cognitive declines last over the long term.’ but who knows, ladies, amiright? ‘It’s very likely […] men’s cognitive capabilities will return to their full strength.’

I was reminded of previous studies I read that claimed men received short-term IQ and memory boosts when they ‘looked at’ beautiful women – aesthetic pleasure and visual appreciation supposed to ‘wake up’ the brain.

The real story from these data would suggest that looking at beautiful women improves male IQ but speaking with beautiful women reduces male IQ. Does this say more about women or men?

Let’s balance out the sexist undertones. Do men become stupid when they speak with beautiful women because:

a) Men are stupid pigs who think only with their penis,

or

b) Beautiful women are so vapid it is contagious?